God Blesses Eldorit Despite The Rain

My name is Jessica Bowen and I came to Eldoret, Kenya with a group from Pacific Union College. I am currently a nursing student studying for my bachelor degree. When my teacher, Dr. Warren Ashworth, told me that he was taking a group to Africa, I asked if I could go. I know that Africa has much poverty and need, and I felt this would be an awesome and powerful mission trip to spread God’s word.

When I first got to Eldoret, I was surprised to find it was very wet, rainy, and cold. In fact the whole time we were in Eldoret, it rained nearly every day. For the first few nights, there were very few people at the meetings. It upset me, but after talking with my teacher and the head pastor, something in me changed. I felt determined that I would not give up on winning souls for Jesus. I started greeting people on the streets, shaking hands, and giving hugs and smiles to people that I did not even know. Soon there was a small group of non-believers coming to my meetings.

The elders and their wives, my translator, and all of the church members were awesome. They were right there with me the whole time helping me to set up in the cold and the rain. And when the meetings ended each night, they helped me take everything down. They stayed until the end when my fingers were numb from the cold and my feet hurt from standing. After holding my microphone for one hour every night, my fingers could barely move to shake all the hands at the end. The church elders stood by my projector and watched over the electronics every night. They also helped lead the people forward at the calls for those wanting to meet Jesus. I was so blessed with a great group of church members and elders. They taught me new Kiswahili words and showed me special African hand shakes. I will never forget the kindness and smiles they gave to me. It was so encouraging. The head Elder and his wife accepted me as their own and called me their daughter.

On the second to last day of the campaign, while my translator and I were calling the people forward to accept Jesus, the speaker system stopped working. Right in the middle of asking the people if they wanted to have Jesus in their lives, my speaker system let out a loud high pitched screech and then the speaker hanging above me fell to the ground. I looked at my translator, and said very loudly, “I do not need a microphone to talk to the Lord’s people!” I continued with the call, inspired and on fire by the Holy Spirit. I refused to let Satan win this night or any other night. I continued telling the people that Jesus loved them and wanted them in heaven. That night the whole crowd came forward to accept Jesus as their friend.

One night, it was raining steadily, but there was still a large crowd of people at my site. Right before I started my sermon, I moved my computer further back on the pulpit to prevent the rain from getting my screen wet. When I was halfway through my sermon, the tarp on the top of my platform gave way to the weight of the rain water. Water came crashing down on my pulpit soaking the area where my computer had been! The crowd was shocked, but I just kept right on preaching because my computer was safe. I praise God that He had led me to move my computer earlier.

Many people attending these meetings were blessed by the message of the Bible and by Jesus Christ. However, I had also felt that I was blessed. I developed a better relationship with my savior. Winning souls for Christ was not by my might but by the might of Jesus Christ.